Kepak buys spice burger factory in fourth acquisition of the year

Meat processing group employs 2,800 people and has annual turnover of about €950m

Meat processing group Kepak has made its fourth acquisition of the year after buying the Moy Park Poppintree factory in Ballymun from JBS for an undisclosed sum.

The deal comes six months after Moy Park was sold to JBS, the world’s biggest meatpacker, for €1.32 billion.

The Poppintree factory was custom built in 1995. It is the main production facility for the Dublin delicacy, the spice burger, whose producer, Walsh Family Foods, was acquired by JBS as part of the Moy Park deal. Spice burgers will continue to be produced at the factory.

Kepak said the acquisition would facilitate the continued growth of its own consumer branded Rustlers products as well as give it additional capability in the “food-to-go” category.

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Other acquisitions by the company this year included a joint venture investment in Greene Farm Fine Foods in Westmeath, the purchase of Country Park Foods (CPF) in Huddersfield in England and a deal to buy Kepak Clare – a standalone abattoir.

Kepak, which employs 2,800 people, has an annual turnover of about €950 million.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist